Now, admittedly, I don't subscribe to as many magazines as I used to, particularly ones such as (Time, Newsweek, etc). Those types of magazines are probably heading to the sea of extinction. So broadly, the internet is having major influence on how we, as consumers, stay informed, but not so much that the printed word is going to die completely. Back in the 1930's they claimed that radio would be the demise of newspapers (and to some extent that is occurring 80 years later, but the working model for the local City Paper www.nashvillecitypaper.com is brilliant). Then, critics said that television would replace radio in the 1950's, and lo and behold, both TV and radio compete to this day. So now in the 21st century, the internet is supposed to be displacing print completely. In the final analysis, it's just a fourth medium that has developed before our eyes. Fine, tightly niched print publications are going to thrive long after we are gone. Which is why I am so excited about companies locally like SouthCom. Chris Ferrell and Townes Duncan have put together several very focused print publications all operating under one roof with one sales and management team. They are well positioned to reap the rewards of a company with shared resources that produces various print and internet publications without the large overhead of disparate and spread out organizations. Although the WSJ article mainly alludes to national print magazines, the same can be said for unique companies like SouthCom.
2 comments:
Thanks for adding comments, Mark. And thanks for that shout out over there on the right. You're too kind. Obviously, I love print and, as a marketer, am a fan of MORE media channels than less. Unfortunately, a lot of advertisers don't know the facts and just listen to the hype that "print is dead." I was in Chicago with some B2B publishers who were talking about advertisers being reluctant to place ads, but the advertisers couldn't explain why other than to say "people don't read magazines" -- when, in their industry, it's obvious they do...and the research backs it up. Perhaps the $90 million campaign will get more advertisers to at least question the myth that "no one reads magazines anymore." (Hint on links to WSJ.com -- If you go to Google News and search for the first sentence in that from WSJ.com. When you click to the story from Google News, you can read it for free. I think you can do that for up to 8 or so stories a month -- that is, until Murdoch keeps google from indexing his sites.
Rex, thanks for your comments and for your google tip. There is so much I don't know! Thanks!
Post a Comment